45. Rocky Woods and Powisset Farm

Week 45  5/31/16

We hadn't walked around Rocky Woods Reservation since our kids were little. It is a Trustees of Reservations property. As members, we used our free parking pass.

Starting on the Loop Trail we stopped at Chickering Pond where Ben and Julia used to like to feed the ducks. We ate our picnic at this table while we watched birds, a large water snake and insects.

There were many pink lady slippers in blossom. They all appeared individually, not in clusters.

Here we are at the top of Cedar Hill with a group of very nice young people. It's a rather steep climb, rewarded with a beautiful view. Foxboro Stadium can be seen from here.

This adventurous turtle was laying eggs in the middle of the Ridge Trail, high above Notch Pond. Paul says she was about 1000 ft distance and 80 ft elevation above the Pond. I hope her babies make it back down there when they hatch.

At Echo Pond we watched some large polywogs, some with their pre-froggy legs.

The way these trees fell exactly one on the tip of the other seems improbable, but it must have happened.

After Rocky Woods, we dropped in at nearby Powisset Farm. This is also a Trustees property with a very active farm program and CSA. They sell meat as well. We spent quite a bit of time talking to a man who was bringing in some currant vines for the farm. In his retirement he does a lot of farming at his home and makes jams, jellies and other products sold at the farm stand. He and Paul and a lot to talk about, comparing mulch suppliers and so forth.

This is the large of the two sows we saw. Paul estimates she is at least 600 lbs but maybe up to 800. 

44. First Canoe Trip of Spring

Week 44  5/23/16

Paul and I have a goal to canoe the length of the Charles River in sections. This day we put in at Route 115 and paddled to Route 109. It is extremely twisty, as you can see here. We also encountered many downed trees that may have fallen in the winter.

Paul is quite good at balancing, even when manipulating a large object from his  head to the water. I, on the other hand, can barely balance on that rock with my hands free.

We passed Trustees of Reservations on the right bank (Medfield) and the Millis Fin, Fur and Feather Club (Rod and Gun Club) on the left bank. We saw no turtles, which I thought was odd, but many birds and fish.

Here's where we took out on Rt 109. It seemed like a good time for an ice cream.

43. Museum of Work and Culture

Week 43  5/17/16

The Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, RI preserves artifacts from the immigrant population that worked in Rhode Island mills in the late 19th and the 20th centuries. Apparently there were 900,000 French Canadian immigrants who were urged to do this work when their own farms in Canada were doing poorly. Woonsocket became the "most French" city in the United States. All was not rosy in Rhode Island, though, as there were poor conditions in the mills, child labor and other problems seen in many mill areas.

There were also displays about immigrants to this area from other parts of the world. Many of them still have neighborhoods and social clubs in RI and Mass.

The museum is actively collecting items from French immigrant families and memories about all of the individual Catholic schools in the area.

This beautiful WW I memorial mosaic had been in the Our Lady of Victories church and is now in the recreation of a chapel at the museum.

Pump organ in the chapel.

The mill section of the museum included several tasks for visitors, such as sorting bobbins, ordering time cards, etc. Paul long ago worked as a "bobbin boy" in a carpet mill. Maybe that's why he did very well beating the clock.

I've never seen a map like this one!

A mannequin and recorded conversations made it easy to imagine this loom display in a real factory.

Items from some of the local baseball teams with French players were displayed here. This man, Nap LaJoie and a few others went on to the major leagues. I wonder if this guy is related to friends of ours with this name.

42. Broadmoor and Chase

Week 42  5/11/16

As long-time Massachusetts Audubon Society members we have been to nearby Broadmoor many times. As a matter of fact, I passed it every day on my way to work.

For some of the way, we walked a different route than we have in the past. But first -- lunch. We had a picnic near one of the boardwalks.

Many ferns were uncurling.

I always like this meadow. This day it was humming with bees near the trees.

Paul is very good at balancing. I got across somehow.

We weren't sure what animal would make such a large deep hole so low to the ground. Anybody have an idea?

Next we stopped at Chase Woodlands, a Trustees property. We only stayed a short while because we had a scheduled event, but were able to take a much longer hike on our last trip there.

41. Flowers with Art then Art with Flowers

Week 41  5/6/16

Stop one was the Garden in the Woods in Framingham. We were given a gift membership by Medway friends this year. I considered it a perfect day for a visit - early spring following a rainy spell. We were impressed by the extent, scope and variety of this place and plan to come back many times and bring others with us. We bought a trout lily to remind Paul of a hike he took with Charlie recently in Connecticut where they saw many wildflowers Trout lily was Paul's favorite. I didn't take a picture of his plant because it is just two leaves at this point. But here is a link to trout lily.

We watched this chipmunk who finally emerged from his home.

The cottage of the original owner is still present. Installed nearby was an intriguing kinetic firepit. Rising smoke causes the wheel to spin. We did not see it in use.

The property includes several pools. This one had plenty of animal life as well as plants.

A marshy area has some beautiful unusual plants.

This is one of several sculptures at the Garden in the Woods. We could see it as a dinosaur, feathers or leaves.

This is a children's area. I'd recommend it if you have kids. There was a place to build fairy houses, a maze made of plants, a hollow tree trunk to crawl through and an area to display collections of objects.

We could see this log construction well with few leaves on the trees. It will be interesting to see what it looks like when the logs rot and things begin to grow on them.

Next stop was deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum which we have visited many times. I didn't do a good job at showing the beautiful plantings they have here, many local species, but you can see a hint of some small red flowers growing on the rock in this shot.

This is one of my favorite sculptures in the park. It is by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa and is called Humming.

The intent of my picture was to view four sculptures at once. It didn't work well.

40. Skipping School

Week 40  4/26/16

One spring Wednesday at Wellesley College is always set aside for a celebration of student achievement as the Ruhlman Conference. Paul and I first attended a fascinating set of short talks by four students on memory, history and subjectivity. Then we split up so Paul could attend a talk by one of the students he works with, who will be going to graduate school in biochemistry next year. He says it was over his head. 

Instead, I listened to one in a series of ongoing site talks by a group of students who are trying to get the Wellesley community to stop and see their surroundings. At each talk they discuss with the group a certain plant and a nearby piece of outdoor sculpture. This day we looked at an ivy climbing on the brick walls of the Davis Museum. The students asked questions to help us observe the ivy as a species and also to think about why it was planted in this spot. For example, "What would be different about this space if the ivy were not here." Then we looked at a sculpture under the arch which had recently been relocated to that spot. The students asked questions here as well. Since we had professional botanists, art historians and museum administrators in the group, we had quite a high-level discussion.

The catered community lunch was served under a tent. Paul and I ate in the amphitheater while we looked at the program of afternoon events. It was a gorgeous day, and ever on the lookout for SIGNS OF SPRING, we set out around the lake.

Many SOS today! Here is one of a few vernal pools we saw. 

Just one of the wildflowers we saw, Paul says this is a marsh marigold.

And of course, no walk around Lake Waban is complete without a photo in front of the Hunnewell Topiary Garden.

After our walk, there was still time for two more sessions. We went to the Science Center to hear three students talk about a human-computer interaction project with students, music, and wearable electronics including conductive thread, paint ans sensors.

Finally, we watched two scenes from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing which were the two Shakespeare Society plays from this academic year. The student directors talked about their visions and decisions in presenting these plays (which are always staged with all Wellesley students - so all women. For example, the Twelfth Night director gave each actor a script with only her own lines and a leading cue line. This is how it was done in Shakespeare's Day, since printing costs were high. She talked about how that changed the actors' roles and reactions.

39. College Rock to Adams Street

Week 39  4/20/16 

The Hopkinton trail system has been featured here in Week 29. On that day we made a plan to revisit with a different route. This day we parked car #1 in Holliston on Adams Street, then drove car #2 to College Rock. Still looking for signs of spring every week (this is a slow year!) we did find some greenery in this beautiful spring, as well as many tree buds and mosses.  

Here is one of the many local examples of glacial erratics. Much of this area is traversed by stone walls, indicating that it used to be farmland. Paul is very good at picking up clues of how land has been used as well as sharing his geological and forestry knowledge.